Environmental
Groups Sue Federal Fisheries Service to Close Regulatory Loophole

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
- Facing new restrictions in the waters of Hawai'i, a fleet of longline
fishing vessels are relocating to California to avoid a federal judge's
decision to enforce protections for the endangered leatherback sea turtle.
In response, environmentalists filed suit
in the US District Court here today asking the National Marine Fisheries
Service to close this regulatory loophole and enforce the Endangered Species
Act.

The California-based
pelagic longline fleet fishes primarily for tuna and swordfish using monofilament
lines up to 30 miles long and carrying thousands of hooks. In addition
to the fish they target, these longlines are known to ensnare the critically
endangered leatherback turtle, as well as loggerhead, olive ridley, and
green turtles. Each year the longliners also entangle thousands of seabirds,
such as albatross, and tens of thousands of sharks.

"The giant, Pacific
leatherback is on the verge of extinction due to commercial fishing operations,"
explained Todd Steiner, director, Turtle Island Restoration Network. "If
we don't modify our fishing activities, the ancient leatherback, which
out-survived the dinosaurs, may be the first of many species to disappear
forever, including the many overfished species of fish on which we depend
on for food."

Scientific data shows
that the leatherback sea turtle is in imminent danger of extinction in
the Pacific. A recent paper in Nature (June 2000) predicts the species
will go extinct in 5-10 years without reductions in adult mortality from
fishing activities.

"The National
Marine Fisheries Service must follow the law and consider the impacts
of this fishery on protected species under the Endangered Species Act,
" said Deborah Sivas of Earthjustice. "The agency should also
move quickly to come into compliance with the High Seas Fishing Compliance
Act of 1995 which prohibits permitting of activity that 'undermines the
effectiveness of international conservation and management measures'."

"In April 2001,
Hawai`i federal district court Judge David A. Ezra, ordered the closure
of the Hawai`i-based longline swordfish fleet and reduced fishing of the
tuna fleet to reduce the longliners' impacts on threatened and endangered
sea turtles. Judge Ezra had previously issued an injunction closing millions
of miles of Pacific Ocean to longline fishing, noting, "the harm
to the turtles is incalculable."

"Rather than
comply with the Hawaiian injunction, the longliners have chosen to move
their operations to California, where the can operate free of environmental
review," said Brendan Cummings, an attorney for the Center for Biological
Diversity. "The time has come for the National Marine Fisheries Service
to close this loophole and help save the leatherbacks from extinction."

Leatherbacks nest
in Mexico and Costa Rica in the eastern Pacific, and, in the western Pacific,
in Malaysia and Irian Jaya. Although in 1980 it was estimated that there
were 126,000 adult female leatherbacks in the eastern Pacific alone, scientists
estimate that there are less than 3,000 leatherbacks of both genders left
in the eastern Pacific. The western Pacific nesting populations have also
been devastated, and are near extinction.